24-year bank CD a huge disappointment for couple  

2000元存24年 该得22万还是8000元？

1989年，盛忠奎夫妇拿出2000元存入当地某银行，该银行开的存单上写明：该储蓄为保值储蓄品种，24年到期后可获得本息共22万元。今年9月21日存单终于到期后，盛忠奎夫妇去取钱却被告知存单已失效。[查看全文]

(ECNS) -- A couple in Danjiangkou, Central China's Hubei province, went to cash in a due term deposit slip at a local bank, but were informed the slip, which should have been worth 220,000 yuan ($36,000), had been invalidated, People's Daily reported.

Chen Yongmei said she put 2,000 yuan ($326) in a 24-year term deposit at the bank in 1989. According to the certificate of deposit (CD), the principal and interest would total 220,000 yuan when the CD reached its term.

But the bank said such long-term inflation-proof bank savings business had been stopped by the People's Bank of China Hubei branch in 1989.

The bank said the couple's CD could only be cashed in for 8,400 yuan ($1,371), in line with the notification paper they received from the Central Bank Hubei branch.

A scholar said it's hard to say whether the bank was in default. "The bank must follow the Central Bank's provision to stop inflation-proof bank savings," he said. "However, it didn't inform the depositor immediately, which made the depositor miss opportunities to cash in or reinvest the money."

The bank should offer a compensation premium to the couple, the scholar added.